The Bears put forth a decent effort in Minnesota last weekend, but Rex Grossman’s injury makes the 2004 season a wash. Sure, it’s still early, but the Bears have simply lost too many important pieces on what was supposed to be a developing team. While bench players and backups to backups learn the team’s new systems, key skill players are absent from game action. At this rate, you almost hope that management decides to shut down Urlacher for a month or two. After all, a top five draft pick may be just what this team needs heading into 2005.
Whether Grossman returns to his status as the team’s unquestioned franchise QB next season or not is now the elephant in the room. Conventional wisdom says that ACL injuries are no longer career threatening, and all reports point to a full recovery. Still, Angelo has to be tempted to investigate which signal callers may be available in the upcoming draft. Here’s a brief initial list of draft-eligible QB’s to keep in mind:
Matt Leinart (Jr., USC): accurate, big arm, tough, but definite injury risk
Charlie Frye (Sr., Akron): four year starter, has potential
Andrew Walter (Sr., ASU): ideal size, arm, toughness, but a project
Kyle Orton (Sr., Purdue): early Heisman favorite, lesser pro prospect
Dan Orlovsky (Sr., Connecticut): putting up record-setting stats
Aaron Rodgers (Jr., California): athletically gifted, but another Kyle Boller?
What’s the one thing to take away from this list? There won’t be any sure-fire franchise caliber QB’s in the draft. Leinart and Rodgers may be the two best options, but neither player has decided to leave college early. Most importantly, nobody on the above list is better than former Florida standout Grossman. This is reason number one for the Bears to avoid taking a QB early in the 2005 draft.
Reason number two centers around Grossman’s future. While he may be limited in terms of mobility next year, Rex’s strength is pocket passing. He’s a gunslinger in the mold of Favre and Bledsoe, which makes a full recovery of all his skills even more likely. One year on the sideline and in the film room could turn out to be a blessing in disguise given the enormous volume of Terry Shea’s new offense. Grossman reportedly enjoys working on his game off the field, and Bears’ fans should be confident that he’ll give 100% in rehab. Now is not the time to give up on arguably the best young QB to ever play in Chicago. In short: have some faith in a proven winner.
Reason number three to stick with Rex is the amazing wealth of impact players at other positions in the draft. Among the top 25 draft eligible players (in my opinion), there are nine prospects who will line up at either CB (Antrel Rolle-MIA, Corey Webster-LSU, Marlin Jackson-MICH), WR (Mike Williams-USC, Braylon Edwards-MICH, Mark Clayton-OKLA), or OT (Eric Winston-MIA, Alex Barron-FSU, Jammal Brown-OKLA) in the NFL. Luckily for Jerry Angelo, his team’s three need positions are CB, WR, and OT. If the Bears come out of the draft with Rolle or Williams, the playoffs will be a realistic consideration next year. Rolle is a pro-bowl caliber defender at CB or FS, and his versatility would add a unique dimension to Lovie Smith’s defense. On the other hand, Williams would instantly boost the offense as the team’s new #1 WR. If the Bears get a top five pick, they should be able to get one or the other.
Admittedly, this article focuses more on the future than the depressing present. For now, the Bears are stuck with a combination of Jonathan Quinn, Chad Hutchinson, and Craig Krenzel at QB. Let’s just say that a top five pick should be a certainty. Opposing defenses will stop the Bears’ emerging running game with an extra defender in the box, thereby forcing Quinn to throw often. Unfortunately, the WR corps is too young and inexperienced to give the passing game a boost. The Bears now have only one playmaker on offense (Jones), which makes their attack ridiculously easy to stop.
In three weeks, the Bears have gone from embarrassment, to elation, to disaster. Week 4 brings “rock bottom” to the table in the form of the Philadelphia Eagles. Their defense will relentlessly pressure and eventually pound Quinn, who’s lucky that he stands 6’6” and weighs 240 lbs. The Bears’ defense won’t fare much better than the offense, as Terrell Owens and Donovan McNabb present yet another challenge to an injury depleted secondary.
Let’s not even discuss the Bears’ remaining schedule after their heaven-sent Week 5 bye, which includes road games at Tennessee and Dallas and a home date with Indianapolis. To make matters worse, these three November games happen to be consecutive.
So, feel free to write off 2004. Just don’t write off Rex Grossman.
Adam Hurder, pioneer of the 20 Yard Penalty, is a Columnist for SportsFiends.com. Readers of his articles should feel free to submit any questions and/or comments to ahurder@sportsfiends.com.
